Senate Ag Committee developing legislation to reauthorize federal child nutrition programs

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) announced on Tuesday that the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will hold a business meeting Sept. 17 to markup bipartisan legislation that reauthorizes federal child nutrition programs across the nation.

“We must reauthorize these programs so children across America can and will have healthy meals available at school,” Roberts, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, said. “Unfortunately, there are significant error rates and improper payment levels in school meal programs. We need to improve the administration of these programs to reduce errors but do so in a way that does not layer additional federal bureaucracy and overreach on those feeding hungry schoolchildren.”

Currently, Roberts is working with the Committee’s Ranking Member, Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and other committee members to craft a reauthorization package that increases efficiency, flexibility effectiveness and integrity. The package includes reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.

“I have traveled across Kansas, eating school lunches with students and meeting with nutrition directors,” Roberts said. ‘I keep hearing one word over and over again: flexibility. To me, that means we protect the gains already achieved by many school districts and provide assistance to other districts so all students will have healthy, filling meals.”

Last May, the Agriculture Committee hosted a hearing on child nutrition reauthorization, during which members heard directly from school nutrition professionals and other stakeholders.